I'm currently adding the Mobipocket output for Feedbooks and I've been wondering about something:
Would it be possible to add hyperlinks pointing to another .mobi file directly in an e-book ?

We usually add recommendations on our e-books at Feedbooks, this mean that you could basically directly download one of these recommendations.

DaleDe

12-07-2007, 07:55 PM

I'm currently adding the Mobipocket output for Feedbooks and I've been wondering about something:
Would it be possible to add hyperlinks pointing to another .mobi file directly in an e-book ?

We usually add recommendations on our e-books at Feedbooks, this mean that you could basically directly download one of these recommendations.

Yes, there is. There is a whole set of Bible study books based on MobiPocket. I posted an article on it in the 'other places on the web' forum. I can find the link if you wish.

Dale

Hadrien

12-08-2007, 12:15 PM

Yes, there is. There is a whole set of Bible study books based on MobiPocket. I posted an article on it in the 'other places on the web' forum. I can find the link if you wish.

Dale

Thank you for this answer. Yet, I still wonder if it'll work... In the case of the Bible study books, basically you dowloaded an edition of the bible and those books are somehow linked together right ? I've seen on the Mobipocket website that this is possible.

In my case, it's a bit different, instead of pointing to another book available in your Mobipocket library, those links would point to a .mobi file on our website.

The easiest thing to do will be to test it on a Kindle. Our Mobipocket support is almost ready, I'll post a file shortly afterwards in this topic.

DaleDe

12-08-2007, 05:36 PM

Thank you for this answer. Yet, I still wonder if it'll work... In the case of the Bible study books, basically you dowloaded an edition of the bible and those books are somehow linked together right ? I've seen on the Mobipocket website that this is possible.

In my case, it's a bit different, instead of pointing to another book available in your Mobipocket library, those links would point to a .mobi file on our website.

The easiest thing to do will be to test it on a Kindle. Our Mobipocket support is almost ready, I'll post a file shortly afterwards in this topic.

Ahh, that is a totally different question than you originally asked. I do not believe you can bring up a URL inside of MobiPocket. It is not a browser. The URL's inside the file need to be resolved to locations on the device to build a book I believe or they will simply be ignored. You can set the pointers up in a book and if the user owns both books then it will work.

Dale

Hadrien

12-08-2007, 10:39 PM

Ahh, that is a totally different question than you originally asked. I do not believe you can bring up a URL inside of MobiPocket. It is not a browser. The URL's inside the file need to be resolved to locations on the device to build a book I believe or they will simply be ignored. You can set the pointers up in a book and if the user owns both books then it will work.

Dale

Well, it works on the Reader Software for Windows, and the Kindle is a connected device with a built-in browser.

Here's a .mobi file in this zip (you'll get a sample of what Feedbooks output will be, there's still a few images missing and the TOC but everything else should be pretty close). The links are directly pointing to where our Mobipocket files will be. Right now it should show the 404 page, could someone try this file and see how the Kindle react ?

Nate the great

12-08-2007, 10:46 PM

Oops. I forgot to turn on the wireless.

I clicked on the link "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom", and had the option of following the link to the internet.

I turned on the wireless.

Yes, it worked.

P.S. I love my Kindle!!!

Hadrien

12-08-2007, 10:52 PM

Oops. I forgot to turn on the wireless.

I clicked on the link "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom", and had the option of following the link to the internet.

I turned on the wireless.

Yes, it worked.

Thanks a lot Nate ! That's a very cool news indeed.

When I'll start working on Mobipocket support for RSS feeds, I'll leave the hyperlinks.

I can think about a few applications now that I know that these links work, for example, we could use a .mobi file kinda like a "book guide". It would list all the books available on Feedbooks, and with a simple click you'd be able to download it.

Nate the great

12-08-2007, 11:05 PM

Are you going to do an email option? I ask because the current PDF download option is very slow on my PC, and if I tried something similar from the Kindle it would be abysmally slow.

How about allowing a second email address? Then someone can select the option "send this to my Kindle" from your webpage. I don't think that automatic daily downloads is a good idea.

Hadrien

12-09-2007, 08:26 AM

Are you going to do an email option? I ask because the current PDF download option is very slow on my PC, and if I tried something similar from the Kindle it would be abysmally slow.

How about allowing a second email address? Then someone can select the option "send this to my Kindle" from your webpage. I don't think that automatic daily downloads is a good idea.

It's only slow for RSS feeds because currently we have to parse them and download the images before downloading them. Once the cache is ready, it should be a lot faster.

The "send this to my Kindle option" wouldn't be very useful if we add support for Mobipocket on our RSS feeds. As long as you have to click somewhere to get your files, clicking on a direct link to a Mobipocket file would be the same.

Hadrien

12-09-2007, 02:14 PM

Well, I've just finished implementing the TOC on the Mobipocket files. There's an inline html TOC at the end of the book, and I also added a reference to this TOC in the OPF file (should show up a TOC icon on the Java version of the Mobipocket Reader).

I think that everything will be up this evening, this time it'll be interesting to see if it directly download the .mobi file when you click on the link ^^

Hadrien

12-09-2007, 08:21 PM

Here it is, Mobipocket output is available for public domain & creative commons on Feedbooks. Might be a few bugs left, and I'm working on something that'll generate nice covers for the Cybook too.

Can anyone try this file on the Kindle, and see if the links to the other books work ?

It doesn't quite work right. When I click on a link, the ebook is loaded as a webpage and I see the MOBI source.

Hadrien

12-09-2007, 08:36 PM

I've updated the MIME type, could you try again ?

Nate the great

12-09-2007, 08:55 PM

The links to Horse Latitudes and Blind Shrike worked correctly. I was directed to your website and prompted to download the ebook.

Hadrien

12-09-2007, 08:56 PM

Fantastic news. Thanks a lot Nate for your help ! I hope we'll find some very cool things to do now that we know that direct links to other .mobi files work.

bchowdhr

12-10-2007, 02:43 AM

Hadrien, I also downloaded one of the books on my Kindle and then went to the links inside the books to download some more books. It works beautifully. Awesome. Thanks.

I am now waiting to see how I can get a custom newspaper delivered to me everyday from Feedbooks.

Nate the great

12-10-2007, 10:40 PM

Hadrien-

Can you post a copy of the code fragments for the links? I want to write my own ebook library index as an ebook.

mjdb

12-10-2007, 11:36 PM

Hadrien-

Can you post a copy of the code fragments for the links? I want to write my own ebook library index as an ebook.

Is the syntax the same when creating links in Kindle books the same as it is for ordinary Mobipocket books ?

If they are, there are instructions in the Devolper section of the Mobipocket website that might be relevant.

eg:
Hyperlinks between different ebook files
Linking to another ebook
http://www.mobipocket.com/dev/article.asp?BaseFolder=prcgen&File=hyperlinks.htm

"You use the oeb:redirect special URL to link to a different ebook. The syntax is: <a href="oeb:redirect?title=DatabaseName">External Link</a> "

Has anyone tried using the Databases and SQL queries within Mobipocket eBooks that are also described there ?
http://www.mobipocket.com/dev/article.asp?BaseFolder=prcgen&File=sql_reference.htm
http://www.mobipocket.com/dev/article.asp?BaseFolder=prcgen&File=Databases.htm

Martin.

wallcraft

12-11-2007, 03:50 AM

The FeedBooks download links work in FBReader if you turn on "Open External Links" (Cross-Tools icon, Web tab). I tested this under Windows and on a Nokia 770. I have not tested this on my iLiad, because I don't have much experience with its web browser.

On the Nokia, the spaces in the filename don't interact well with the file manager. It would be much simpler if "Author - Multiple Word Title.mobi" was changed to (say) "Author-Multiple_Word_Title.mobi".

The links did not work under Windows MobiPocket Reader. I think the Reader assumes links are shopping requests, so they get redirected through mobipocket.com and I eventually end up on the feedbooks.com home page. This might be made to work if you can detect how MobiPocket is changing the request.

Hadrien

12-11-2007, 06:28 AM

Is the syntax the same when creating links in Kindle books the same as it is for ordinary Mobipocket books ?

If they are, there are instructions in the Devolper section of the Mobipocket website that might be relevant.

eg:
Hyperlinks between different ebook files
Linking to another ebook
http://www.mobipocket.com/dev/article.asp?BaseFolder=prcgen&File=hyperlinks.htm

"You use the oeb:redirect special URL to link to a different ebook. The syntax is: <a href="oeb:redirect?title=DatabaseName">External Link</a> "

Has anyone tried using the Databases and SQL queries within Mobipocket eBooks that are also described there ?
http://www.mobipocket.com/dev/article.asp?BaseFolder=prcgen&File=sql_reference.htm
http://www.mobipocket.com/dev/article.asp?BaseFolder=prcgen&File=Databases.htm

Martin.

It's actually much more simple. The oeb:redirect is for books that you already have in your library. In my case, I simply created normal links pointing to our files: <a href="http://www.feedbooks.com/discover/mobi/xx">Text</a>

Tried it on the Mobipocket Reader for Windows on XP, and on my smartphone (HTC Touch) and it worked on both of them.